“Kosmos chemnitz”: tens of thousands celebrate for cosmopolitanism
Music, language, sports, shows – and above all, friendly faces everywhere: chemnitz celebrated a peaceful festival of democracy on thursday. According to the organizers, 50,000 people came to the festival "kosmos chemnitz – we stay more".
On stage were tocotronic, rapper alligatoah and loveparade-grunder dr. Motte. At the end herbert gronemeyer sang – and said: "the land is our land. We hold it firm and stable and don’t let it swing to the right."After right-wing demonstrations and xenophobic attacks, the saxon city was in the national spotlight.
With the festival, chemnitz wants to set an example for a peaceful, cosmopolitan and tolerant society. "We are more than a concert. We want to continue #wirsindmehr. We promote an open society," said soren uhle, managing director of the city marketing company.
At the concert #wirsindmehr had on 3. September 2018, for example, the toten hosen, feine sahne fischfilet or kraftklub played in front of 65,000 people. It was a reaction to right-wing demonstrations and xenophobic attacks in the city, after a 35-year-old german man had been stabbed to death shortly before on the fringes of the city festival, presumably by asylum seekers.
For tocotronic the festival was more than just a sign. For him, the event belongs in a series with the initiatives #indivisible and safe harbor, said sanger dirk von lotzow. "These are all events that i’ve been able to summarize into a kind of civil society movement. And I find that very exciting," he said. The safe harbor alliance is about cities taking in refugees – in other words, offering them safe harbors. #indivisible is an alliance for democracy, human rights, social and societal participation.
Sanger joris, who already attended last year’s #wirsindmehr, thinks it is important that artists of all colors get involved in a cosmopolitan society. "I think in this day and age it’s very, very important to show attitude. And if we don’t do that now, when it’s easy and there are more of us, then it’s going to be difficult at some point," the 29-year-old told the german press agency.
After the fatal knife attack on a 35-year-old german man in chemnitz almost a year ago on the fringes of the chemnitz city festival, a suspected perpetrator from syria must stand trial for joint manslaughter. A second suspected perpetrator from iraq is on the run and is wanted worldwide. The violence of the previous august should play only an indirect role in "kosmos chemnitz. "The event was the trigger for us to have to deal with tolerance issues," said uhle.
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